China Uses Geology to Challenge Japan on Disputed Islands

The disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, on Sept. 15, 2010. Source: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- After making its first aerial
incursion into Japanese-controlled airspace near disputed
islands, China compounded tensions with Japan by bolstering its
territorial claims at the United Nations.

On Dec. 14, two days before elections in Japan, China
submitted to the world body an 11-page report citing the
continental shelf’s geology to claim ownership of the islands in
the East China Sea, which may be surrounded by undersea oil and
natural gas fields.

“Physiognomy and geological characteristics show that the
continental shelf in the East China Sea is the natural
prolongation of China’s land territory,” China said. On that
basis, China extends its claim to resource rights beyond the
standard 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Since September, when relations between the two sides took
a turn for the worse, China has been depositing maps and
coordinates with the UN alongside its more visible provocations
by sea and air.

“China has repeatedly and canceled and postponed
discussions with Japan on this, which is why we have yet to set
a border,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Naoko Saiki said.

Saiki said the government will examine the documents before
responding. Japan advocates adopting the median line between the
two countries as a border, while China claims exclusive rights
to develop undersea resources as far as the Okinawa Trough, well
within what Japan sees as its own zone.

‘More Hawkish’

The latest actions came after China’s Communist Party
completed its leadership change and power in Japan was about to
return to Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party, who
advocated a hard line on the dispute during his campaign.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Dec. 13 flight by a
Chinese marine surveillance propeller plane through Japanese-controlled airspace around the uninhabited islands as a
“further dangerous act” that “escalates the situation.”
While Japan dispatched eight F-15 fighter jets, the plane had
already left the area and China responded by calling the flight
a normal activity in its own airspace.

“China’s intention to topple the status quo by use of
coercion is clear,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a
statement e-mailed to reporters today. “Does China want to see
the Japan-China relations pass the point of no return?”

China’s timing is intentional given that the new Japanese
administration “is likely to be more hawkish than the previous
government,” said Richard Gowan, associate director of New York
University’s Center on International Cooperation. “This is a
signal from the Chinese that it’s not going to back down on this
issue.”

Uninhabited Islands

The dispute over the uninhabited islands, known as Senkaku
in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, has hurt trade between Asia’s
two biggest economies and has stoked concern of an arms buildup.
The crisis was triggered by the Japanese government’s purchase
in September of three of the disputed islands from their private
Japanese owner. Since then, Chinese ships have been sailing in
and out of the waters around the islands.

Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “will be forced to put
more ships and planes around those islands,” Jun Okumura, a
Tokyo-based adviser for the Eurasia Group, said yesterday on
Bloomberg Television. “That is a recipe for possible unintended
incidents that could flare up to a major national security
challenge.”

China’s moves are being monitored by Western powers at the
UN for clues as to how the world’s second-biggest economy will
exert its claims and how far it will push the issue. China
supplied late-night drama at the annual UN General Assembly
gathering in September when it attacked Japan from a deserted UN
stage over ownership of the barren island group.

Receives Charts

The UN secretary general is the designated depositary of
the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and, as such, Ban Ki-moon receives charts and geographical coordinates, his
spokesman’s office said.

While presenting evidence at the UN may appear a less
aggressive move than an incursion by vessels, Japan’s position
is that this isn’t a dispute requiring multilateral arbitration
because it’s inherently Japanese territory.

“Japan would consider this an unacceptable approach, so
the move by the Chinese may be designed to look reasonable but
it is more disruptive than it seems,” said Gowan, who
specializes in crisis diplomacy at the UN.

Chinese vessels have entered Japanese-controlled waters
around the islands 18 times since Sept. 11 and have sailed
through immediately adjacent “contiguous waters” almost daily,
the foreign ministry said. The ships have been warned off by the
coast guard. Under Japanese law, incursions by aircraft require
a response by the military, raising further potential risks.